Be careful what you wish for

“I believe in you,” the Duchess whispered to herself, looking in the mirror as she finally pulled her hands away from her hair. Looking at herself in the mirror, she saw everything that others failed to see. The exhaustion in her eyes, hidden behind a smile that only seemed real to those who didn’t know the way she normally smiled, the spark missing from her eyes. Her back was kept straight and she tried her best to hide how much she wanted to crawl back in bed, open a book and hide from the world. It wasn’t something she could allow herself to do. She had a life to lead, even if the road she walked was a lonely one. And while, at times, it felt like this road carried too high a toll, she would keep fighting. For that was what she had promised, that was what she needed. If anything, recent events should inspire her to fight for what she wanted. Which was exactly what she was going to try and do, until the day the smile on her face would be believable again.

As per usual, the woman was dressed in a way that most rulers would question. Sitting on her highly fancy chair, she pulled one leg over the other, sipping from a glass of wine as she seemed to do all the time nowadays. While she made sure not to drink too much while still working, drinking multiple glasses of wine every single day couldn’t be healthy, but it was what kept her going. For a second, she looked down at the dress she was wearing. A white top that covered her entire chest, for once, and short sleeves that did not even reveal her shoulders. If the dress had actually managed to cover her knees, it would have almost been appropriate for someone in her rank.

The door to the throne room opened and the brunette raised a brow, leaning forward a bit as she took another sip of her wine. Normally, her guards would ask her permission to let someone in, rather than walking a stranger into this room immediately. Which meant he was either very important, or she had been expecting him already. Luckily, there was only one man she had asked to meet, which meant that this had to be Mort’s sire and the reason for Kaz’ torture.

Another vampire. There was still a part of her that wanted to call for his head, send every man she had after him. Because vampires were abominations of nature and their curse needed to end. Especially a man like this, who turned others for his own benefit. Miserable, pathetic. He was everything she hated, or was supposed to hate, and yet today, it was no time to think about that. Because they had other matters to solve before she would question her beliefs. With Kaz and Mort being vampires too, her opinion on them needed to change. Was she still allowed to draw a line somewhere, and if so, where could she? Was a vampire good as long as he turned no others, as long as he didn’t kill? Or was every vampire still bad?

“Edmund,” she spoke, carefully letting his name roll off her tongue before taking another sip of her wine, looking down on the man who was the reason things had gone bad. “Isabella is a problem.” Straight to the point. No chit chat. Because she wasn’t sure if it was the lack of sleep or the alcohol, or perhaps she truly believed so, but she felt like this man was the cause of what had happened. Angering the vampire to the point where she had decided to hurt Kaz. This was his mess to clean up, not hers.

When Edmund asked for her expectations, she took another sip of her wine. After this, she stared into her glass, slowly twirling it and looking into the red wine, as if it held the answer. Sadly, it didn’t, so after a few seconds she looked back at the vampire again, trying her very best to keep her expression straight, not show what she truly felt about any vampire standing in front of her. Especially one who had turned plenty of others. The kind of vampire she was supposed to end. Luckily, this was something she had learned over the years. While the smile on her face wasn’t believable, it didn’t show the reason for its fakeness. Sooner giving the impression it was because of her exhaustion than something else.

“This is not just your problem to deal with,” she calmly stated, taking a sip of her wine before continuing. “She hurt my husband and for that, I want her to pay.” Because that was her main reason for calling the vampire here. Isabella had been a danger to Kaz. Whatever she wanted to do to Edmund, she didn’t care. But hurting her husband was something the woman did not take lightly. “Which leads me to what I’ve been meaning to ask you,” she finally spoke, shifting in her chair, leaning forward as she looked at the man. “What is your plan?”

This man was too calm. From the look in his eyes to the tone of his voice, even the meaning behind them. It sickened her to the point where she almost failed at hiding it. He didn’t care what harm his fledgling has caused. He only cared for his name, for his pride that had been hurt. Mort had made this man seem like he was purely good, like he was the father one should look up to. But, to Allison this man seemed like something completely different. Unlike Mort and Kaz, he had lost his humanity, was no longer the man he had probably once been. It triggered her, as there was a voice in her head telling her that this was how the two of them would become. With another sip of her wine, the glass ended up empty. Miserable.

‘I am not here to punish her.’ Allison raised a brow as she heard these words. As she had expected. The man truly didn’t care for what harm his miserable piece of a fledgling has caused. He was no better and the way he spoke, made it seem like this was truly only his problem. Like she just had to take his word for it if he decided to release the monster again. ‘But she promised to behave this time.’ Absolutely fucking miserable. “She harmed the Grand Duke of this land,” she simply stated, falling quiet for a few seconds. “I don’t care about your mark, or your name. She will pay for her crimes,” she stated, taking a few seconds before continuing again. “Either by your hands, or I will make sure someone else will do it.” That part was up to him.

Luckily, the vampire did agree that Isabella needed to be punished for the crimes she had committed. According to the laws of the land, of course, but those laws were a bit vague. Her word was law, so if she ordered for Isabella to die after immense torture, she would. At least now he had agreed to that, so even if he were to let her go because of false promises, she would meet her end soon. That much was certain. Because a threat like the woman, a vampire without any humanity left… There was no way she could allow that to roam around her lands. She needed to die. “That won’t be a problem.” Because she didn’t really care if there were sacrifices. She would find someone who could take Isabella and if not, all they needed was a trap.

Mort. “About that,” she spoke, frowning as she looked into her empty glass. If only this entire castle had been filled with staff, who should be able to smell the scent of her empty glass and give her a free refill. “I asked him to come here to meet you,” she told the man, looking back at him again. “He should have been here already.” Even with the fight between Mort and Kaz, she would have expected to hear from him by now.

She was not a good person. Not for those she didn’t care for. Once she was loyal to someone, however, the woman seemed to go through fire to keep those people safe and, above all, happy. With Giovanni, this meant she had turned herself into his own, personal puppet. The abuse, the mind games… None of it mattered. Because it was what made him happy and if she were to fight it, she would ruin that. And there was no way that she could do such a thing. The first time in her life that she had gone against him, was because she had been more loyal to someone else. And that person had pushed her away, made her feel more miserable than she had felt in her entire life. Yet, she’d stick by his side. And the woman who had hurt him needed an angel by her side to protect her from what was going to happen to her once Allison found her.

Expectations. Allison could still feel the annoyance, yet managed to calmly answer. “Of course,” she calmly agreed, a smile appearing on her face again, “I will send out my men to look for him while you take care of this problem.” Because the more people looking for Mort, the better. In the meantime… She needed the world to be rid of this Isabella. Sooner, rather than later. Something Edmund would hopefully be of help with, though something told her he might not do this the way she wanted him to, making him rather useless.